


Burning Leaves

by Yumejin



Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yumejin/pseuds/Yumejin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mitarashi Anko leaves the village of Konoha to return to her Master, not a single person suspects that she has taken something very important with her as a “gift” for him. A few years later, Uchiha Sasuke picks up an unlikely interest in a spy from Sand, which drags him right into the middle of an enormous plot weaved from a decade thick web of lies and betrayals. The centre of all the chaos: a blond boy with whisker marks on his face. But just who is he exactly?</p><p>Sasuke-centric re-telling of the Chuunin Exam and the following fiasco with Sand.<br/>/discontinued</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No beta. This is just a little something I came up with to get over writer's block. I expect to continue it, but it will only be 5-6 chapters or so.

_Beautiful red leaves are_

_Burning, in death_

_Dancing on the evening air._

 

 

When Mitarashi Anko escaped the Village of the Hidden Leaf, not a single soul suspected the consequences of letting her get away and re-join her master. Nobody noticed the disappearance of someone else, someone very important.

 

It took them an entire week to initiate a search effort and a month to declare him presumed dead. Half of them thanked the Great Sage, saying that the village would be much safer without him around anyway and pray that the bloody brat should never turn up again. 

 

Only the Hokage keeps on worrying, for the sake of the boy and the future everyone in the village.

 

*

 

Sasuke looked around warily; there were many genin in the hall, getting ready for the test. The tension was almost tangible in the air and even he was starting to get nervous.

 

“Our team is going to get the best scores, obviously! We have Sasuke-kun and Sai, even I had very high grades in all my tests at the Academy!” Sakura was babbling excitedly to Ino, occasionally making enamoured eyes at him, blushing. The blond girl scowled at her.

 

“Yeah? My team has Shikamaru – his IQ is over 200! And there’s no way I’d lose to an ugly pig like you~! Hehe!” she retorted smugly, making Sakura glare at her fiercely.

 

Sasuke really wished for a minute of silence before the test to organize his thoughts, but the constant chirping of the girls next to him was making it virtually impossible. Instead, he continued looking around at the ninja from other villages, who were sitting around in their own groups and quietly talking among themselves.

 

His gaze fell on the Sand ninjas – Gaara was there, glaring fiercely at anyone who dared to approach him – his own sibling, Temari, included. He’d had a nasty run-in with the red head a few days prior and even though he’d never admit it to anyone but himself, the empty, dull eyes of the boy were frightening enough to make even him shiver. Apparently Gaara had some sort of interest in Sasuke, even going so far as to announce it face to face. How annoying. He didn’t need any distractions right before the tests. Though the red-head did cause his blood to boil in thirst for a challenge…

 

Not far from Gaara, there was a blond haired boy sitting on top of a desk, with his legs crossed. He didn’t look like much, but he stood out from the rest, wearing a carefree expression on his face. He had whisker-like scars on his cheeks which gave him an almost fox-like look. He was humming something to himself quietly.

 

“Can’t wai~t!” he intoned happily, earning himself a glare from Temari.

 

“Shut up. You’ll ruin it,” she barked at him, gripping the large fan in front of her tighter. She was wind user, probably. 

 

“Whatever,” the blond boy replied tonelessly, his expression turning bland. “Let’s pass this stupid test already.”

 

Gaara gave him a sharp glare, but he merely smirked back, before getting up to leave without a word.

 

It wasn’t much longer until the start of the test. They sat down in the classroom, separated from their teams to minimalize the chance of cheating. Sasuke was almost startled to notice that the blond boy was sitting right behind him, having appeared there without him noticing. It made him anxious to be unable to read his possible opponent at the earliest stage of the Chuunin Exam. Well, he had other things to focus on for the time being.

 

The Jounin responsible for their test was called Morino Ibiki, and Sasuke could recall hearing somewhere that he was well known as Konoha’s top interrogator. The man had a stern, scarred face and a sharp look which made a few of the more unprepared genin jump. He explained the rules quickly and to the point. Anyone _caught_ cheating on the written test would be immediately disqualified. Which just meant that they had to take the test in a true way of a ninja: obtain information without being discovered. A walk in the park for an Uchiha. Copying someone else’s test wouldn’t even be a challenge. He looked around cautiously, checking what everyone else was doing.

 

Many hadn’t caught on to the real point of the test, but others were scribbling away furiously or concentrating on whatever method they chose to cheat. Sasuke took a while before placing his bets on copying the test of a guy who seemed older than the rest of them by a couple of years and from what he’d overheard, was returning to take the test for the 7th time. It seemed he was physically weak, but quite smart since he’d planned out many strategies for the test. He activated his Sharingan and immediately he could imitate the exact movements of the pencil the silver haired ninja across from him was holding. His hand moved almost on its own, scribbling the answers furiously. Within the first ten minutes of the start of the test, a quarter of the teams was disqualified and leaving the hall. Sasuke smirked; this only thinned out the competition for the rest of the exam. He knew that his team would not be caught cheating. Sai was like a wraith, able to do anything without being noticed. Sakura no doubt knew the answers to most of the questions, even if they were quite far above the level of most genin. It was more of an intelligence test than a knowledge test anyway. She would be fine.

 

 

The rest of the time for the test seemed to practically evaporate and before Sasuke realised, the paper was being taken from underneath his pencil. Morino Ibiki looked rather pleased; his lips were screwed up in an odd sort of smirk.

 

“Looks like most of you passed. I might have to add an extra question,” he said and everyone looked around in confusion.

 

“But before I can give it out, you will all have to make a crucial choice. Everything depends on this question. If you get it wrong, your whole team fails.”

 

Murmurs of outrage spread through the crowd of students, but Ibiki silenced them all with a slam of his fist down on his desk. “You may choose to leave now. If you stay, I will give you one attempt at the final question. If you fail to answer it correctly, all of the members of your team will be banned from taking the Chuunin exam _ever_ again. Think it through wisely.”

 

Most of the people there were now looking around uncertainly, looking at their team members for some sign or perhaps reassurance. Sasuke had confidence in his team though and merely shared a quick nod with Sai and Sakura. While doing that, he noticed that the Sand ninja team looked almost too confident. The blond boy was sitting back lazily, playing with his pencil while the other two glared at the examiner. Sasuke frowned. He already knew their team would be powerful – he sensed Gaara’s strength when he was attacked by him last time. He didn’t know anything of the blond boy and girl though, other than Temari’s name. They could be strong too, for all he knew. Well, the blond didn’t look like the smart type at least, but Temari always had a calculating look in her eyes. He made up his mind to be wary of those three in the future. Their over-confidence almost made him… uneasy.

 

Some people got up to leave, with resigned expressions on their faces, dragging their feet as they retreated through the entrance door, not looking back. The examiner laughed.

 

“Would anyone else like to give up now?” he asked, but the only answer he got was a determined

silence. “Well then, let’s-” he was interrupted by a loud bang and a green blur as something broke into the room through the window.

 

“Hello students!” someone bellowed and only then Sasuke noticed that the green blur, was in fact, a man dressed in spandex body tights. His hair was straight-trimmed all around his head and he had frighteningly large eyebrows.

 

“Ah.” Ibiki looked away, irritation clear in his expression.

 

“I’m your instructor for the next part of the exam!” the green-spandex man shouted excitedly again. “Follow me to the other test area!”

 

“Guy, we still haven’t finished,” the examiner interjected, glaring at him.

“Oh. Oh. My bad, Ibiki. Sorry!” the man apologised, bowing so low his forehead was almost touching the wooden floor.

 

“Whatever. Now, let’s continue with the final question,” Ibiki resumed and dead silence fell upon the room once again. “You’ve all decided to take the risk. And… you have all just passed the 10th question!” Everyone stared at him.

 

“This was a test of your faith in your team and in yourself. You have done well, even under the pressure of the possibility of failing completely. I congratulate you all on passing the first stage of the Chuunin Exam,” Ibiki said, the smirk coming back to his face.

 

“Well done, everyone!” Guy-sensei bellowed again, jumping forth to the middle of the room to look over all of them, making the examiner sigh in exasperation again.

 

*

 

“Looks like a pretty creepy place...” he heard Sakura say as she held her hands up close to her chest defensively while they walked towards a huge steel gate behind which trees towered higher and higher.

 

“Well then!” the new examiner, Guy-sensei turned to face the group once again. “You’re all about to find out why this place is called the Forest of Death!”

 

Sakura gulped so loudly it sounded almost deafening to Sasuke’s ears.

 

“First off though, we need to have you sign these consent forms! Best to get it out of the way before anybody dies!” Guy-sensei held out a thick pile of paper to them. “It’s a hot-blooded, no holds barred survival test after all!”

 

“What?!” Sakura squealed. “But that’s-! You can’t!”

 

A kunai flew past her, grazing her cheek lightly, making a thin bloody line across her face. She squeaked again, turning around to see where it had come from. A thin, tall person with long black hair was standing a couple of meters away, holding out their hand as through they had just thrown a kunai. It was difficult to tell if it was a guy or a girl. All that was noticeable was a wide smirk on white lips, stretching grotesquely wide across their face.

 

“Your sort is always the first to die... might as well get it out of the way now,” the person spoke and it was clear it was a boy with a raspy, but oddly deep voice.

 

“Now, I know you’re all eager to get started, but we need to set some rules first!” Guy sensei shouted, trying to re-capture their attention, but nobody turned his way. The blond boy with fox-like whisker scars on his face was suddenly standing next to Sakura, licking off the blood from her cheek.

 

“You shouldn’t let all this lovely blood spill unless you’re ready for the consequences,” he said, licking his lips while Sakura flinched away.

 

Sasuke could have sworn he saw the boy’s eyes flash red for a split second when he felt a stab of killing intent coming his way. It was gone before he could react, but it left the hairs on his arms standing up and his adrenaline rushing through his veins.

 

The blond boy and the androgynous-looking ninja exchanged a long, intense look and it seemed as though they reached some sort of a resolution.

 

“I’m sorry, got a little carried away,” the blond grinned at the examiner and jumped back to his place next to the Sand ninja. Gaara was glaring at the boy intently with his eyes narrowed into tiny slits, but he didn’t seem fazed at all, throwing his hands behind his head and returning to his usual laid-back stance completely unbefitting of a ninja. The red-head made a slight motion with his hand and Sasuke noticed a few grains of sand raise from the ground underneath him.

 

“Gaara, not _now_!” Temari hissed angrily, though she didn’t turn around to face her brother. Gaara’s hand stopped and the sand fell back down immediately. The blond’s eyebrows twitched slightly but he showed no other sign of acknowledging what just happened.

 

Sasuke’s body was shaking. With excitement. This was going to be an extremely intense survival game.

 

 

 


	2. Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new sort of hunger was born within him. His ancestors’ blood was boiling in his veins, calling for action, power and death. So this was what it meant to be an Uchiha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta, there are likely to be typos, though I looked it over a couple of times.

_Your touch is like a strike_

_Of lighting. Gentle_

_Resonance of two minds._

They’d only been in the Forest of Death for twenty minutes when a loud scream could be heard from somewhere further west. Sakura stopped running abruptly, looking around.

“Did you guys hear that?” she asked cautiously. Neither Sasuke nor Sai felt up to answering such a pointless question.

“Let’s go,” the Uchiha said instead, getting ready to go in the opposite direction, hopefully avoiding whatever caused that scream. He then heard another shriek, closer to them. He turned around just to see Sakura coming out from in-between thick bushes. Instinctively, he gripped a kunai in his holster, ready to attack. Something didn’t feel right.

“Sakura-san’s toe nails were painted a different colour,” Sai said dully, taking out his own shuriken. “Whoever this is, they’re very bad at the Transformation Technique…” he added with a disappointed sigh. The fake-Sakura recoiled, scowling at them.

“Hmph! I don’t need this disguise to win, prepare to die!” then ninja released the technique and revealed himself as a Lightning Village ninja, with a bush of messy black hair and a re-breather strapped to his face.  He took out a throwing knife and launched himself straight at Sasuke. Clearly, the enemy team had figured out he’d be the one guarding the Heaven Scroll and came to steal it in order to complete their set and pass the exam. Too bad for them, but the scroll was in fact with Sai. Sasuke smirked and dodged the attack easily, as well as lodging a kunai deep into the enemy’s shoulder in one swift movement. He cried out in agony, but Sasuke had a firm grip on him now. He pushed the kunai in even deeper and then threw the boy to the ground face first. Thick ropes appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around him tightly, preventing any movement. Sasuke looked up to see Sai kneeling down on one leg with his scroll rolled out on the ground. He had conjured them through his Imitating Drawing technique.

“Thanks,” Sasuke said casually in his teammate’s general direction, stepping on the bound ninja with one foot, pushing his face into the dirt, effectively knocking him out cold.

“His teammates are probably nearby,” Sai murmured, looking around intently. “We should find the real Sakura quickly. She might be in danger.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement and they set out to search for the girl. They found her in a small clearing not very far from there, unconscious on the ground. A tall, slender man was standing over her, tilting his head slightly at the sight of Sasuke and Sai.

“Hello, Uchiha Sasuke. Let us battle to the death.”          

 

*

 

To the east, team Kurenai were gathering resources in preparation for their first night in the forest. Shino was using his bugs to find fruit while Kiba and Akamaru were hunting down small animals. Hinata was setting up camp in a small clearing, which was hopefully still hidden from view enough to keep them somewhat safe.

She was picking up some tree branches to build a small shelter when out of nowhere a shrill scream tore through the air. It seemed to come from nearby.

“Byakugan!” she looked around, using her clan’s unique skill to see through the trees. It seemed that Sand ninjas were fighting a group from Rain. There was an unusual concentration of chakra in the air, almost like a concentrated cloud. Curious, Hinata made her way over to a place closer by to watch from a hidden place. Using Byakugan put a large strain on her chakra reserves and it could be dangerous during an exam like this. Who knew how long they would have to stay in the forest before being able to find the other scroll needed to pass?

“You kids should pick your opponents better. You’re all going to die,” the oldest Rain ninja barked out, getting his umbrellas out, stance ready to attack.

The red-haired boy from Sand simply stared unwaveringly at his opponent, not making a move.

“Gaara, shouldn’t we wait a bit? See which scroll they’ve got?” the blond boy next to him said lazily, still standing in a very relaxed pose, hands in the pockets of his trousers.

“I will simply kill everyone we encounter,” Gaara replied evenly.

“Ugh, whatever. Just make it quick and let’s get the hell out of here, dattebayo!” the blond replied in a huff, turning away with his arms folded. Beside him, the older, blond girl merely sighed in resignation.

“Are they underestimating us?!” one of the other Rain ninja shouted angrily, taking out a throwing knife.

“Prepare to die! Jyouro Senbon! Rain of needles!” their leader threw four umbrellas up in the air, immediately taking a different stance. “I control those 1000 needles with my chakra; there is no way for you to get out of this alive!”

“Hmph,” was Gaara’s only response before the needles surrounded him and everything in sight vanished in a giant puff of smoke and sand.

It was a long moment before the chakra-filled dust cloud cleared and Hinata’s Byakugan could distinguish what was going on. Gaara seemed to be protected by a cocoon of sand, not a single needle having touched him.

“Impossible!” the Rain ninja exclaimed, jumping back a bit to a safer distance.

“Was that it?” Gaara drawled and put his hand together in a strange seal, which Hinata had never seen before. “ _Desert Coffin...”_ the boy’s hand moved and as he did so, sand moved underneath the Rain ninja’s feet, rising to encase him in a thick layer of sand.

“You made it rain needles? Let me make it rain blood,” he said, narrowing his eyes as the leader of the enemy ninja was raised up in the air by the sand. He screamed, apparently trying to get himself free with no success. In the meantime, Gaara picked up one of the enemy’s umbrellas and calmly opened it, raising it above his head. “ _Desert Funeral_ ,” he muttered and the enemy was ripped apart instantly, into bits so small it was impossible to tell which part was what. Blood sprayed everywhere thickly and there was nothing else left of the leader of the Rain ninja group.

Behind Gaara, the blond boy rubbed blood off his face, and then licked it from his hand in an animal-like gesture. His eyes glowed red.

“What are you?” the girl next to him exclaimed, getting her huge fan out, ready to attack. “They said you were just-“

“Nothing you should worry about, Temari-nee-san,” the blond grinned, showing slightly pointed incisors.  “Though I don’t know about him… if he continues to spill so much blood in front of me…” his grin turned feral for a moment, earning him a hard glare from Gaara.

The red headed ninja prepared to use his ninja technique on the remaining two opponents.

“We will give you our scroll, just let us go, please!” the one on the right said shakily, reaching forward with a Heaven Scroll, but Gaara’s haze was steady and determined.

“ _Desert Funeral_ ,” he repeated, controlling the sand all around the two ninjas. It was over in a flash.

Something odd was happing though. Little red bubbles of chakra appeared all around the three Sand shinobi. Hinata narrowed her eyes, straining her Byakugan to the best of her ability to see if it was _really_ chakra. It was almost unheard of to be able to see such a chakra concentration outside of a person’s system. And yet, here it was…

It took Hinata a few seconds to realise that the red bubbles seemed to be coming out of the blond boy’s skin, as if squeezing through the pores in his skin before expanding more and more. He was scowling, as if holding something back with tremendous effort. His eyes were red again and this time Hinata could see the slit pupils clearly, surrounded by golden sparks – almost like fire.

“What are you doing?” Temari demanded, trying to avoid the red chakra bubbles. Apparently she could see them too. For them to be visible to the naked eye, the small bubbles would have had to have an immense amount of power packed into them. Touching one would surely be dangerous.

The boy muttered something in response, but it was too quiet for Hinata to hear. He took a few deep breaths and slowly the bubbles vanished. His eyes reverted back to their usual cerulean blue.

“Nothing you need to worry about, Temari-nee-san,” the boy then replied with a somewhat strained smile on his face. Gaara narrowed his eyes at the blond, but he merely shook his head. Hinata didn’t have a clue what was going on. “Someone’s been watching us. I will take care of it, dattebayo,” the blond added, turning away from his teammates without waiting for a response.

“Oi! Don’t just wander off on your own!” Temari shouted after him, scowling.

“Leave him be,” Gaara drawled. “I’m bored, let’s go somewhere else,” he motioned for her to follow. Looking torn, she looked back at the blond for a second but then went after her brother instead.

 

Hinata’s breath caught. She’s somehow been noticed, even at this distance! She made ready to retreat and meet up with Kiba and Shino and run away from these scary people. Turning around, she was ready to search for her friends with her Byakugan, but suddenly her arm was caught in a strong grip.

“Wooooooow!” the blond boy from Sand was entirely _too close_ to her face, staring at her in child-like wonder. He was grinning widely. “You’ve got really cool eyes!” he exclaimed suddenly, making Hinata try to back away quickly with an almost glowing blush on her cheeks. “So pretty~!” he leaned in again, inspecting her closely. She looked away, no matter how much her trained ninja instincts were telling her it was a bad idea with such a dangerous opponent right in front of her.

“You can see through things, can’t you?” he asked curiously, fingers getting close to her eyes as if to poke them. Hinata slapped his hand away.

“P-p-please don’t touch me,” she muttered with some effort to even get the words out of her mouth. The boy beamed at her.

“So you CAN speak! What’s your name? I’m Naruto.”

“I-I’m Hinata,” she whispered, still not meeting his eyes.

“Nice to meet you Hinata. You don’t need to be so shy around me, dattebayo!” he patted her on the back lightly with an enthusiastic smile. “Well, I should probably get back before Gaara kills anybody else. Can I hang out with you sometime? You were really cool up there, hidden away completely, watching us with those eyes.”

Hinata eyed him warily, from toes to the tips of his messy hair. Finally, she nodded slightly. She wasn’t sure why – this person was probably very dangerous, but she couldn’t find it in herself to say no to his friendly attitude. He had noticed her! Nobody had ever told her she was _cool_. Her cheeks were burning and no doubt cherry red by now. When she looked back up, the boy was gone.

*

 

Sasuke was frozen. His legs refused to move, paralyzed with fear of the killing intent the stranger was approaching him with. It was suffocating and far stronger than anything he had ever encountered, even from… _Itachi._ Sakura had woken up and sat up on her knees next to the stranger, tears streaming down her face as she whimpered. He had to do something! Sai got knocked out and the pink-haired girl was useless in real life combat anyway. He couldn’t count on them…

If only...if only...

Blood raced through his veins, burning and pulsing loudly in his ears. The power was just there, at his fingertips, but yet out of reach. He had to move. Move! He managed to reach for his throwing knife, although not sure of what he should do.

“What are you going to do with that?” the man drawled, lazily throwing his long black hair over the shoulder.

Sasuke didn’t hesitate and let his instincts take over. He stabbed the knife into his own leg in one determined thrust. Pain washed over him quickly, freeing his paralyzed muscles.

He grabbed Sakura, dragging her back to where Sai was sprawled out on the ground. He kicked the boy in the ribs.

“Wake up!” he hissed, at the same time turning around with a knife ready to defend them should the strange man attack.

“You think you can protect them both? How... _noble_ of you,” the stranger sneered unnaturally wide again. He really was creepy. “You’re weak, Sasuke-kun. You should just fight for yourself, maybe then you’d stand a chance.”  Then he fell silent for a minute, not moving.

The man’s calm demeanour was unnerving for him. He was tense, anticipating a sudden attack that didn’t seem to be coming. Attacking first did not seem like a particularly clever idea. He had no idea how physically strong his opponent was. It could be a worthless struggle. He needed to try to run. If only Sai would wake up…

The boy on the ground stirred and opened his eyes, immediately leaping to his feet in a practiced defensive stance. Sakura was still on the ground in a small heap, sobbing into her hands. He couldn’t exactly blame her – their opponent was very intimidating, but she was a shinobi.  They lived by endangering their lives every day. If she still hasn’t figured out the real dangers of this profession, he really just felt pity for her. She could die in this forest, all because she didn’t have the courage to fight. He couldn’t let that happen though. No matter how annoying she was most of the time, unless all three of them made it to the tower, they would fail. 

He tried to signal to Sai with his free hand, slightly holding it behind him so their enemy couldn’t see. They had to run. He grabbed Sakura again, jumping to the bushes on the left, hoping that Sai had caught his message and would follow quickly enough. He ran as far as he felt was necessary before dropping Sakura to the ground and looking back to see if his teammate was there. Sai was right behind them, moving so silently Sasuke hadn’t noticed him until they were almost face to face.

“How’s she?” the other boy asked quietly, not putting his knives away. Sasuke knelt down and shook Sakura’s shoulder a bit. She looked his way, finally snapping out of the shocked state.

“What’s going on?” she asked and Sasuke slammed his palm over her mouth, looking around for any movement. It didn’t seem as though they were being followed, but he still had an ominous feeling about the whole situation and didn’t want to let his guard down. The pink haired girl tried to say something, but the sound was muffled effectively by his hand.

He should have looked around. Sai pushed him out of the way, but Sakura tumbled on the ground like a rag doll, taking the majority of the attack. What the hell was this? A purple blur zoomed by him quickly. It took him a few long seconds before he realised what surrounded them was a giant snake which was baring it’s long, sharp fangs at them and coiling up, ready to strike again.

 

“That’s good, Sasuke-kun. Stay on your toes, just like pray should. It makes it that much more exciting for the _predator_ ,” the raspy voice  rang out of nowhere and then the strange man emerged on top of the snake’s head with an amused smirk on his face, his eyes narrowed into slits.

“You won’t last much longer though, if you keep worrying about that little pink one,” he added, pointing at Sakura lazily with one of his sharpened black nails.  Sasuke frowned, it seemed as though the man was only after him, really.

“If I fight you one-on-one, will you leave them alone?” he asked, glaring at the stranger.

“Maybe,” was the amused response? That definitely meant _no_.

That was it for Sasuke. He launched himself at the nearest tree, bouncing off it to extend his jump. He was at a disadvantage down there, he needed to catch the man’s attention and fight him on a more even level.

Four, five throwing knives were still in his holster. Two smoke bombs and a healing scroll. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. Moulding chakra, he got in position.

“Fire Technique, …”

He watched the dark haired stranger dodge the fireballs gracefully, without a trace of panic in his expression. Damn, he was probably _very_ strong. It would be a good test though, to see how he would fare against someone of Itachi’s strength... he grinned, feeling the adrenaline rush through his body again. This should be interesting.

 

If his fire technique wasn’t going to work, he would have to try hand to hand combat. It was far from his specialty, but he was pretty strong and agile. Plus, he had a weapon in hand. A slash from the right, then a stab from the left, to his lung. It should do some damage. He rushed ahead to execute his plan, but he wasn’t fast enough. His blow was blocked effortlessly and he was thrown back, falling to the ground. His head hit the solid surface with a deafening thud and pain racked through his body, but he didn’t pass out. He had to kill that man. He had to prove to Itachi that he wasn’t weak. He wouldn’t run.

A red haze settled over his vision and suddenly everything became so much clearer. Time seemed to slow down as he saw two knives flying towards him. They seemed so slow, it was child’s play to sidestep them both. It had to be…

“I see you’re not as weak as I thought... Uchihas really are a different sort of prey after all,” the stranger drawled again and Sasuke could see his pitch black eyes taking on an excited glint, which made shivers run down his spine. No, he couldn’t be scared by it. He had finally managed to activate the _Sharingan_ ; he couldn’t fathom the thought of losing now. A new sort of hunger was born within him. His ancestors’ blood was boiling in his veins, calling for action, power and death. So this was what it meant to be an Uchiha.

His body felt lighter. He could do this. Taking out all his remaining knives, he jumped as high as he could, throwing them in the direction of his opponent. The man looked almost disappointed.

“Is this all you’ve got?” he hissed and a snake jumped out of his sleeve, taking the blow for him.

“You wish,” Sasuke smirked and was already kicking, trying to swipe the man off his feet. It worked and he was thrown into a tree. The Uchiha wasn’t willing to wait. He kicked and punched and then jumped back, using the Great Fireball Technique. There was no way the man could have survived it from such a close range. And yet, there was no scream of agony from being set on fire.

Something shot out of the flames, grabbing him by the throat. It was rough and was tightly wrapping itself around him.

“ _Now_ you’ve really gotten me excited, Sasuke-kun” came the raspy voice from above him and he struggled to avoid the next blow, while gasping for breath. His vision blurred from the lack of oxygen – even the Sharingan could not help there. He felt dangerously close to passing out.

*

“Ooooi! Manta! Where’s Orochimaru-sama?!” somebody shouted loud enough for the whole forest to hear. Something – most likely the giant purple snake, shuffled around and then a low, rumbling hiss was heard.

“Orochimaru-sssama iss here,” it said, dragging out the words as if struggling to thread the words together.

“Eeeh? “

“I am here, Naruto. Be quiet,” the stranger’s voice seemed to be echoing away from his direction. “Look who I’ve found.”

“I thought you said you would let me deal with the genin!” the other – Naruto – complained incredulously.  “No fair, you will probably kill all of them before I get to have fun.”

“This one is a bit different, Naruto-kun,” said his enemy, Orochimaru.

“Eeh, how? He looks weak, dattebayo!” suddenly Naruto’s voice sounded entirely too close, as If he was right behind Sasuke. He hadn’t heard the boy approach…

“He’s Itachi’s younger brother.”

“Are you sure? Itachi-nii-san is reeeally strong, but this pipsqueak looks weaker than Kabuto,” Naruto said with amusement and Sasuke felt his blood boil. _Itachi_. He opened his eyes slowly, being careful not to move – maybe if they thought he was still knocked out, he could surprise attack them.

“Oh, I think he’s awake. His breathing has sped up,” the boy added lightly and Sasuke heard Orochimaru sigh.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” the man said exasperatedly.

“Oh, yeah. I was just looking for Gaara.”

“You’ve lost them already?” anger bled into Orochimaru’s tone.

“I didn’t lose them, dattebayo! We...split up for a bit, that’s all,” Sasuke could swear he head the boy _pout_.

“Do you remember the condition under which I allowed you to come here?”

“That I wouldn’t interfere with your plan… I know,” the boy sighed. “Gaara can take care of himself though. He’s one of my own after all. He’s not going to be killed so easily, dattebayo.”

“Then you better get back to carrying out your own mission before I send you straight home,” the lightning ninja bit out as though forcing it out through his teeth. “Get out of my sight.”

“But don’t kill the pipsqueak, I want to fight him,” Naruto whined, his voice fading away slightly.

“I wasn’t going to,” Orochimaru almost purred in Sasuke’s ear and then a sharp pain erupted in his neck. He was being lifted up while a hot, burning wave of pain spread through his entire body. He struggled to open his eyes just to see the blond boy from before sauntering away into the forest, before he blacked out again.

 

*

 

“Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, wake up!” said a squeaky voice, which hovered somewhere above him.

“Sakura?” he mumbled, trying to force his body to move.

“What happened, Sasuke-kun, are you feeling alright?” she asked worriedly, but he shot up into sitting position, snapping his eyes open.

“Orochimaru!” he yelled, but the man or the blond boy were nowhere to be seen. Sai appeared in front of him instead and put a hand calmly on his shoulder.

“They seem to be gone, for now. Rest,” he said in a soothing, although void of emotions, voice. Sasuke was silent for a long moment, but then slowly lay back down on the ground. His whole body was sore, but particularly his neck felt as if it was on fire.

“Sasuke-kun, what’s that mark on your neck?” Sakura was looking at his neck with a frightened expression on her face.

 _“Come to me if you decide to pursue greater power, Sasuke-kun,”_ Orochimaru’s raspy voice rang in his ears.

“No idea,” he brushed it off and turned away from his teammates. His whole mind was in turmoil and he had no desire to sit and chat with them right at that very moment.

Orochimaru was only after him... and he worked with the blonde ninja from Sand, if not even his whole team. They were plotting something... damn; there were too many unknown variables. One thing was certain though. They knew where _Itachi_ was and he would beat it out of them if he had to.

 

*

 

They rested for a few hours before setting out again. The anger surging through him fuelled his strength and they got an Earth Scroll from a group of Sound ninja without too much of a fuss. Even Sakura seemed focused and on edge. She managed to defeat the female opponent in the enemy team, but then almost broke down in tears. Well, it was an improvement from senselessly collapsing to the ground in the middle of a fight. Sai was as deadly efficient as ever and worked with Sasuke to trap the other two ninja. They gave up their scroll without much protest.

It was almost morning by the time they made it to the tower, after fighting off some wild foxes and a group of older Konoha genin who were no doubt re-taking the test. They let them walk away with their scroll, due to Sakura’s insistence that they shouldn’t fight against ninjas from the same village. Sasuke had scoffed at that, but did not feel like arguing. He dismissed the cold, calculating stare from the ninja who handed the scroll over to them, trying to bargain for their safe escape - a silver haired boy who wore huge round glasses and looked several years older than the rest of them.

Afterwards they proceeded to climb the tower, meeting up with the other teams who had completed the test.

Amazingly, two other teams had already made it, despite it being only one night after the test started. They had been given an entire five days, so it was quite surprising. The Sand group was silently standing in the furthest away corner. Naruto and Gaara were both there, seemingly having a wordless conversation with only the slightest changes in their expressions. The tension was almost tangible in the air, as if someone had locked up to enormous, angry beasts in one small room together. Temari was glaring at them both, but Sasuke noticed that her hands were shaking slightly.

The other group which had already completed the test consisted of Inazuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata – the shy girl who never talked to anybody in class. She seemed to be glancing nervously in Naruto’s direction, then promptly looking away and then looking back again.

“Hey, Sasuke! Finally got here, huh?” Kiba barked with amusement, lazily strolling up to them.

“Hmph,” he didn’t feel it was necessary to dignify it with a response.

*

Around noon, a Jounin ninja came to inform them that they have passed the test and could leave the forest and rest in the village before the last part of the test was announced. By that time, one other group had arrived – Konoha ninja a little bit older than them. Hyuuga Neji, Tenten and Rock Lee. Sasuke had heard about Neji before – then again, almost everybody had – and knew that the boy would be a difficult opponent to beat for whoever had the misfortune to go up against him. He was hailed as the genius of the current generation of ninjas. Brilliant at chakra manipulation, technique development, taijutsu and also very gifted in using his family’s bloodline limit – the Byakugan. He had an air of dominance around him and Sasuke was looking forward to seeing him fight.

Hinata, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to get as far away from her relative as possible. She was cowering behind Shino slightly, worryingly glancing at Neji, who seemed to be ignoring her existence altogether. Strange, those two.

The Jounin ninja escorted them back to the village, where they all parted ways until they would be summoned again. He was just getting ready to leave, when he heard a low whisper behind him.

“I’m going to crush the life out of you in the next task.”

It was Gaara, standing with his arms folded and a defiant look on his face. A short distance away, Naruto was bouncing up and down, excitedly shouting out where in Konoha he would like to visit first. Sasuke eyed them both warily.

“Looking forward to it,” he said to Gaara, smirking slightly. The barely contained rage was visible in the red head’s expression and Sasuke felt a rush of adrenaline at the thought of fighting against him. He was strong – he smelled of immense power _and blood._

 

 


	3. Fire and Sand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He’d be damned if he didn’t find out what was going on with the group from Sand._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta, you know the drill. Long chap, but most of it covers the exact events in manga volumes 9 & 10\. As I've stated before, this is a little something to help with my occasional writer's block. It's light and simple and it's not going to suddenly go off on a massive tangent. Though I do, of course, have a few interesting plot twists up my sleeve.

 

_In Darkness and in Light I_

_Search forever, turn your_

_Clouded eyes towards me please._

“In the third part of the Chuunin Exam, you will compete one-on-one, against an opponent assigned to you in advance. We will begin the preliminaries in half an hour,” explained the Jounin ninja with straight brown hair and his headband tied at his forehead. He spoke in a very monotone way and Sasuke sighed, knowing that even though these exams were supposed to be very difficult, the Jounin ninja were so far above their level that they found it humorous watching them all struggle.

 

It had been three days since they left the forest and they had just been summoned to be told of the details of the next exam. Sasuke counted how many people were left – 21, out of 67 who took part in the first test. Beside him, Sakura fidgeted nervously.

“A match, right now?” she asked no one in particular, looking quite concerned. Not without reason, she might have the brains to get past the academic parts of the exam, but in the Forest of Death she was mostly dragging him and Sai down. He did see the potential in her, but she had yet to realise that fawning over her appearance wasn’t going to make her a better shinobi.

“Ooh, Sasuke’s team made it~!” said Ino, standing with her group, a few meters behind them. Sasuke repressed the urge to scowl. 

“Eeeh... so many competitors are still here? Damn, what a pain,” whined Shikamaru, ignoring her altogether.

Sasuke then looked to their teachers, curious to see how they would handle the unprepared young ninjas panicking about the preliminary matches.

“Your students are pretty impressive; I will give you that, Kakashi. But in this round, my team is going to knock them out for sure,” Guy was boasting to a very bored-looking Kakashi. “The previous round was tactics and luck, but in this one, it all comes down to their abilities, or lack thereof. I guess your students will just have to learn what heartbreak is a part of youth, eh?”

“Sorry, did you say something?” Kakashi deadpanned, no doubt just to spite the man.

“What?! Argh, Kakashi, you are as infuriating as ever!” Guy went red in the face, balling his hands into fists. The man was the exact opposite of their teacher – loud, energetic, intense and in general, very uncool. His team, however, looked calm and confident. Prepared.

The shinobi from Sand looked sternly over his team, without a word, while beside him Kurenai looked rather worried.

 

Kiba, Hinata and Shino were standing a little bit away from the other groups, talking amongst themselves. Sasuke strained his ears a bit, trying to pick up their conversation.

“Akamaru is acting strange,” Hinata said worriedly, petting the small white dog gently. It whined and shivered in fear.

“It’s ‘cause of the guys from Sand, I tell you. They must be insanely strong,” Kiba said, chewing on his long nails with concern written all over his sharp facial features.

Sasuke looked over to the Sand team. They weren’t speaking to each other, but Gaara was standing next to Naruto, looking tense and almost excessively on guard. What had happened between them? He tried to piece it together from his recollection of their interactions before, but then gave it up as a bad job. Their dynamic was completely different from that of the other teams, including his own.

 

The half hour the Jounin mentioned was almost up and everyone in the group was getting tense.

“Right, pipe down you guys!” Guy yelled, glaring down at them. His green spandex somewhat lessened the desired effect, but nonetheless everyone fell silent. “The Hokage will now explain the rules of the preliminaries! Listen up and take his words to heart!”

Everyone nodded silently in anticipation.

The Hokage strode out into the podium in front of them, his aged face looking serious and determined.

“I will begin to explain the next part of the exam, but first, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear. It pertains to the underlying purpose of this exam… “ he paused for a moment, letting them all prepare for the words yet to come.

“While it is officially said that the purpose of hosting a joint exam for the ninjas of all Five Great Countries is… to maintain and strengthen our alliances and to improve the standards of the art of being a shinobi, the truth of it is that you are all pitted against each other as a display of strength to the other countries. It’s like a miniature war between all the allied lands. For that reason, here in this arena, young shinobi fight for the honour of their country – even to death if need be!”

Sasuke, just like everyone else, was staring at the old man in disbelief. He had known this on some level, but to hear it announced publicly… No matter. It changed nothing. He just had to put his best foot forward and cut through his opponents to get stronger, so he could eventually reach Itachi. He was not _weak._ His neck burned warningly. He felt its power coursing just underneath the surface of his skin, tempting him to reach out for it. He wasn’t about to give in to Orochimaru, the damned snake bastard, quite so easily.

“There will be many eyes watching you in this final tournament. Noblemen and Lords, in disguise, will attend to ascertain which country is the strongest. Which country’s shinobi are most reliable to commission for their work. The strength of a country is derived from the strength of its Hidden Village. The strength of the Village is the collective force of the shinobi who fight for it. And the greatest strength of those ninja emerges only in the midst of life-and-death battle.

“Let me re-iterate once more before the exam begins. You are taking no ordinary test! You right not only your own career and dreams. You are fighting for the dignity and prestige of your home as well!” the Hokage spoke the last words with power of a true leader.

 

Everyone nodded with serious expressions on their faces. They were ready now. Sasuke noticed out of the corner of his eye, that Naruto seemed to have ignored the whole speech altogether, while Gaara looked fidgety and impatient, although still very much deadly.

 

“My Lord, if you don’t mind, I can take over the proceedings now,” a somewhat raspy, strained voice sounded out of nowhere and a new ninja emerged from the shadows. “I, Gekko Hayate, am at your service, Lord Hokage” the man bowed.

“Very well then. You may begin.”

The man – Hayate, turned to them. His face looked too pale and sickly for a normal shinobi; his eyes had huge dark bags under them.

“Is he ok..?” Sakura whispered to him, but Sasuke ignored her altogether.

The instructor cleared his throat, which was more like a sickly cough, really and proceeded to look around them for a brief moment.

“My name is Hayate, good day to you all. Before we begin, I will need you all to do something for me,” he said with a surprising amount of strength in his voice. “As you have already been told, we will hold a preliminary session of matches to reduce the number of participants. Your last chance to back out is now. If you don’t feel up to it – physically or mentally, you need only step forward and you will be free to go.”

In the back of the crowd, there seemed to be a slight commotion. Someone had raised their hand. Sasuke turned around to see. It was the silver haired ninja from the group they stole the scroll from. They had even managed to get past the second task?

“Well, I’m out of here,” the boy said. The instructor looked at the list of participants and then back up at him.

“You are Yakushi Kabuto of Konoha, correct?”

“Yes.”

Hayate crossed the name off the list quickly. “You may go then. Anyone else? Remember, this is an individual task, so you can quit without affecting your team mates.”

Sasuke frowned. If the silver haired nerd’s team was here, that must have meant that when he stole their scroll, they’d already had another one… or that they managed to steal two scrolls even after being robbed of theirs. This, either way, made them pretty strong. Why was he quitting now? He noticed the boy exchange a long look with a Sound Jounin who was overseeing their representative teams. It probably went unnoticed by anyone else, but it was really… suspicious, somehow. Sasuke couldn’t quite point out what was bothering him about the silver haired boy.

Suddenly the curse mark on Sasuke’s neck flared with pain again, so much his knees almost buckled. He suppressed his reaction, but not enough to fool Sakura, who was standing next to him.

“I’m fine,” he barked at her before the inevitable question.

“So...um… nobody else is bailing out,” Hayate said almost lazily, looking over the list of names once more.

Sakura was almost raising her hand, no doubt to complain about Sasuke’s condition, when Sai stopped her.

“This is Sasuke’s decision, not ours,” he said to her. Sasuke gave him a grateful nod, before turning back to the examiner. Kakashi seemed to be eyeing them warily, before turning to the Hokage and discussing something with him and the examiner quietly. They seemed to be arguing about something, glancing at Sasuke occasionally… shit, they knew about the mark. He clenched his fists, but then the examiner turned back to them.

“Well then, if everyone is sure they want to proceed… we will have a total of 10 matches. The victors will all compete against each other again in the final tournament. The rules are simple. Kill, disable or make your opponent admit defeat. As we don’t want a total bloodbath on our hands, please be reasonable and remember to pull out if you believe you are being overpowered. Your lives are more valuable than passing this exam. We also reserve the right to stop a match should we feel the victor is clear. Understood?”

“Yeah,” the crowd murmured collectively, tensing up.

“Now then, the Hokage will announce the first two combatants. These are chosen at random from a box with all your names in it,” Hayate said and gave up and marched to the middle of the combat area of the hall, readying his whistle.

“The first to names are… Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha and...” the Hokage read out from a piece of paper and Sasuke felt his blood rush in his body eagerly.

“And Akado Yoroi of Konoha,” the Hokage finished and Sasuke’s eyes immediately sought out his opponent. It was a masked man from the silver haired nerd’s team… he looked quite fierce, but Sasuke felt fairly confident himself, despite the burning pain in his neck.

“Everyone else please move to the upper gallery to observe,” the examiner commanded, but Sasuke wasn’t paying him any mind. He was staring down his opponent, eager to see how well he can do even in his weakened state.

Kakashi appeared behind him suddenly.

“Don’t use the Sharingan. It will activate the mark. If it runs rampant, we will have to capture you and the consequences may as well be irreversible,” he said and Sasuke scowled. He knew that much already… but not using the Sharingan could be a bit of a handicap.

“I know,” he replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice as much as possible. He was suspecting that he would also have to restrain his use of chakra in the normal arts… What should he do…

“And now… you may begin!” the examiner announced and then sounded his whistle.

Sasuke jumped back to make a comfortable distance between them. He needed time to figure out a strategy and he had no idea what his opponent’s skills were.

Yoroi did not jump back. In fact, he moved closer to Sasuke. A close-range fighter, then. A taijutsu specialist, probably. Sasuke had a feeling that the guy was smirking underneath the black cloth covering the lower half of his face… It did not bore too well.

Three shuriken were suddenly flying his way and he barely reacted in time to take out his throwing knife and deflect them. He lunged forward, deciding to take the battle to his enemy instead of waiting to be attacked. Mid-movement, his curse mark began to burn and prickle very painfully and for a second, his vision blacked out. He fell over, rolling on the ground. Suddenly, a kunai was swinging down at him. He jumped to his feet, avoiding it by mere millimetres.

Thanks to the large arc of Yoroi’s swing at him, he was slow to regain his posture and Sasuke managed to grab him, tackling him to the floor. Yoroi grabbed him by the shoulder; turning them both over so now he was the one pinning Sasuke to the ground. Something was wrong. Upon contact with the other ninja’s hand, Sasuke’s strength seemed to be fading quickly. It was almost as though his chakra was… being drained!

 

*

 

In the gallery above, the rest of the participants were observing the fight intently.

Hinata was analyzing the chakra exchange carefully with her Byakugan. The older Konoha ninja seemed to be draining Sasuke’s chakra through physical contact. It was not unlike the Hyuuga’s gentle fist… She looked around nervously, her eyes seeking out Naruto’s figure on the other side of the hall. He was leaning back, only observing the match with one eye lazily, seemingly disinterested. Beside him, Gaara was looking down at the fight with disappointment.

“Is this all you can do, Uchiha Sasuke?” he said with disdain, his lips in a thin line.

Sakura frowned at him and then turned back to watch Sasuke, who was still lying there powerlessly, breathing heavily as his energy was being drained.

“Sasuke-kun! Snap out of it!” she shouted desperately, leaning over the barrier.

“Sakura-san…” Rock Lee put a hand on her shoulder soothingly.

 

*

 

So Sakura had some uses.

The second he looked in her direction, he knew what to do. He noticed Rock Lee standing just next to her… he was a taijutsu specialist and Sasuke _had_ fought him before. He knew how to win now.

Yoroi lifted his hand, no doubt for a final attack, thinking him unable to move by now. What he didn’t know was that it takes much more than that to beat and Uchiha.

Sasuke avoided his hand and quickly kicked him in the chest, pushing him off and standing back up in one quick move. He had speed, he could win this. Yoroi couldn’t drain his chakra if he couldn’t _catch_ him.

He kicked the guy again, sending him high into air. With a jump, he shadowed the other ninja’s position in mid-flight... This was his final move. He had to bed it all on this. Shadow of the Dancing Leaf and…

Pain. Damn, the seal had activated! The burning was spreading up his neck and down his back, like white hot blades being pressed into his skin. No! Not now!

He inhaled sharply, trying to focus. He couldn’t let his fight end here.

_I’m not going to just sit here and let it consume me!_

The burning receded, clearing his thoughts again. In one movement, he swung his whole body around Yoroi, still in mid-air, kicking him in the stomach, sending him crashing down into the ground, where he kicked down on him again. The Barrage of Lions, his _almost_ newmove. It was based on Lee’s fighting style, after all.

He panted for breath, feeling a bit dizzy.

“The winner is Uchiha Sasuke! He advances past the preliminaries!” announced the examiner and Sasuke felt a mountain of stress evaporate from his shoulder. The moves he’d copied from Lee with his Sharingan put a huge strain on his body which was not used to such strenuous taijutsu techniques and not to mention, he had a lot of his chakra absorbed by Yoroi as well… His vision went blurry and he felt all strength leave him. He was falling back when someone appeared right behind him, holding him up.

“Hey, well done,” Kakashi’s voice, sounding mildly less disinterested than usual, came from somewhere above him. He relaxed, letting himself be supported for once.

“You look like you’re the one who got beat up!” Sai announced with a slight smile, approaching him as well. Sasuke scowled, but there was no malice behind it.

“It’s not the time for your misplaced jokes, idiot,” he replied with slight amusement.

“Sasuke-kun! I’m so glad you’re ok!” Sakura almost screeched in his ears, looking as though she was about to cry.

“Yeah,” he just said, feeling close to passing out.

“Please come with is, you will receive the best treatment possible! We have ANBU healers on site!” said a medic-ninja, running up to them with a stretcher.

“You wouldn’t know what you’re dealing with. I will handle it,” Kakashi waved the man off. Sasuke looked up to him.

“Can’t this wait? I want to see the other-“

“No. Don’t let your emotions drive you. You won this match, but only because you managed to suppress the curse mark with sheer willpower. There’s no guarantee when it tries to break out again. It needs to be sealed,” said Kakashi and his tone was final.

Sasuke groaned, but saw no way of talking his teacher out of this.

“Fine.”

As they were leaving, the next match had begun, between Tsurugi Misumi and Aburame Shino of Konoha.

Once in a secluded area, Sasuke was to take his dirty clothes off, save for his underpants. He obliged, and Kakashi drew a very usual looking seal around the mark on his neck, extending down his body and on the floor around him, in a large circle.

“Well then, best get this over with,” his teacher said, flexing his wrist a bit before he pressed down on the burning seal on Sasuke’s neck. It felt cold, like metal, but it was also rather painful for a few moments, making his vision swim again. He felt the adrenaline rush from his match against Yoroi fade quickly, making him feel very close to passing out. This was becoming an annoying pattern. It made him feel _weak_.

“You look so beat I can hardly recognise you,” Kakashi’s voice sounded almost amused as he crouched down beside the wobbling Uchiha. “Just remember that the power of this binding spell depends mostly on your will to keep it suppressed. If you falter in the belief in your own strength... it’s all over.”

Sasuke tried to nod, but his body wouldn’t’ move. He finally slumped down to the floor. Not even a few seconds later, footsteps were heard.

Kakashi tensed and was immediately on guard, with his throwing knife out.

“So, you’ve finally mastered the Sealing Arts _, Kakashi_ ,” a raspy voice drawled and a dark silhouette emerged from the shadows. Sasuke’s blood ran cold, but he couldn’t find the strength in his body to move even a muscle.

“I see you’re all grown up now. How dull,” the voice continued and the stranger’s face came into view. It was Orochimaru, but he looked different. It wasn’t the body of a young chuunin ninja, but that of the Jounin overseeing the Sound teams. It wasn’t obvious and yet… the resemblance was undoubtedly there. Yellow, slit eyes like a snake’s, long black hair and a smile so wide it made Sasuke’s skin get goose bumps. Nobody else was that creepy.

“What do you want?” Kakashi asked at once, standing between Sasuke and Orochimaru.

“Pardon my rudeness, but I’m not here to deal with you today. Stand aside, Kakashi,” the Sound ninja replied in a smooth, yet commanding tone.

The Copy Ninja did not move.

“What do you want with Sasuke? Is it the Sharingan?” he asked and the underlying threat was evident in his tone.

Orochimaru laughed.

“Yes, I require Uchiha blood,” he said, not moving to attack. He folded his arms and simply smirked at Kakashi. “You know the newly formed Hidden Village of Sound? It’s my home and we need as many strong ninja there as possible. “

“So it’s just greed,” Kakashi deadpanned, not releasing his defensive stance.

“Hm, you _would_ say that, wouldn’t you,” Orochimaru mused, almost as though to himself.

“So you think to use Sasuke as one of your pawns?”

“No, of course not. He’s _very_ special, you see,” Orochimaru looked down at Sasuke for the first time since he arrived, narrowing his eyes. “Do you think you can stop me, Copy Ninja of Konoha?” he sneered. “Don’t be a fool.”

Kakashi’s knees seemed to buckle and exhaled sharply, while the Sound ninja retreated back into the shadows.

Sasuke’s eyes finally fell shut and he gave in to unconsciousness.

*

Hinata was fidgeting nervously. The match was over but… both Shino and the other ninja were being taken away on stretchers by med-ninjas. Shino was so strong… how could he lose? She was trembling now. How could she compete against all these powerful people if even her teammate who always seemed invincible, was now unconscious and bleeding?

The ones fighting below now were Ino and Sakura. They weren’t doing much of anything though, giving Hinata’s mind too much time to wander.

Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder, startling her out of the depressing thoughts.

“N-N-Naruto-kun!” she exclaimed, although it was still very quiet. He grinned at her.

“Yo! How are you doing? Their match was so boring I thought I’d come over for a little chat,” he said cheerfully. She fumbled with her hands a bit, not looking at him. “Nervous, eh?” he said after giving her a small, searching glance.

“Don’t be. You’re quick and you’ve got the Byakugan, you will definitely be fine! Have a little more confidence!” he patted her on the back lightly, making her face turn beetroot red and splutter shyly.

Neji, Hinata’s cousin, was glaring at him, but Naruto seemed not to notice, or most likely just not care.

“He’s right, ya know!” Kiba joined in with a grin showing his pointed incisors. Akamaru barked in agreement.

“I-I’m not very strong, I-“ Hinata tried to protest a little, looking everywhere but at Naruto.

“Nonsense! I believe in you so you better believe in yourself too, dattebayo!” he said with another blinding grin, which stretched his face in a way that made it seem almost fox like.

“Thank you,” she muttered so quietly she was sure he wouldn’t have heard, but his eyes lit up cheerfully and she knew he _had_ heard.

Below them, in the arena, Sakura and Ino were… both unconscious. It was odd for two matches in a row to end with such a result, but seeing as neither Sakura nor Ino were particularly strong physically, it was hardly surprising. Hinata could see with her Byakugan that they had both exhausted their reasonably small chakra reserves.

Hinata fidgeted, knowing it could be her turn any time. She really did not want to fight, but… she did feel a bit better since Naruto and Kiba had tried to cheer her up.

The next fight was between Temari of Sand and Tenten of Konoha.

It did not last even five minutes. Tenten’s attacks looked fierce, she summoned countless weapons and handled them as though they were the extensions of her body, but Temari was a skilled wind user. She nullified all of Tenten’s attacks with her large fan and finished the match in record breaking time, knocking Temari out and lazily holding her up with the metal fan as though she weighed nothing. The people from Sand really were something else entirely.

“Temari nee-chan is badass, isn’t she?” Naruto grinned at her, folding his arms over the balustrade lazily. Hinata squeaked slightly, realising that _Naruto_ was from Sand too.

She would have tried to ask what the relation between them was, but... her name was called. She froze.

“Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha vs. Kin Tsuchi of Sound!” the examiner announced and Hinata stiffly made her way down, dreading the match so much her whole body was shaking violently. She could feel Neji’s intent glare on her back, reminding her how much of a failure she was.

“Begin!”

Hinata immediately assumed the Gentle Fist defensive pose, activating her Bloodline Limit. The girl from sound did not seem to have a lot of chakra, but Hinata already knew not to underestimate any of the enemies in this tournament. Suddenly something zoomed past her, making a small ringing sound. A strong of chakra appeared next to her and she avoided it quickly.

_Needles and thread infused with chakra…_

“Hinata! You can do it~!” someone shouted from the gallery above, momentarily startling her. In that split second, Kin had got close to her, a knife out and already in motion… Hinata turned on the spot swiftly, holding out the palms of her hands to strike. It was an instinct, she never would have reacted so fast if she was trying to think at the same time… That’s it! If she could just go with the flow instead of worrying… just like Naruto had said. Her team believed in her too. The girl from Sound wasn’t strong, but Hinata had a Bloodline Limit and had been training her footwork and charka control since before she could remember. For the first time in her life, she felt like she could accomplish her goal.

“You are now within the range of the Eight Trigrams,” Hinata said quietly, but calmly and steadily. The girl tried to move back, but the Hyuuga heiress was faster.

“Thirty-two Palms!” she moved in to attack. Two strikes. Four strikes. Eight, sixteen and then finally, thirty-two strikes in one move.

Kin Tsuchi collapsed, panting heavily, unable to move. Hinata had disabled most of the essential pathways of her chakra system by pressing upon it’s critical points which she could see with the Byakugan.

“I-I give up,” the girl finally ground out with some difficulty and Hinata smiled to herself a little. Naruto _might_ just have been right. She returned to the gallery above, passing by her cousin Neji.

“Congratulations, Hinata-sama,” he said but the dislike he held for her was clear. Hinata looked down sadly and said nothing, going past him and back to Kiba and their teacher, Kurenai.

“That was so awesome!” Naruto exclaimed at once, rushing to congratulate her. “I mean I don’t even have a clue what you did there, but you won!”

“It wasn’t anything that special,” she murmured, feeling a blush creep up on her cheeks.

“So, what was it? Some secret technique of your clan?” Naruto kept on questioning excitedly.

“Eh….” She wasn’t sure if she should explain. She was spared the trouble by the announcement that the next to fight were Naruto of Sand and Dosu Kinuta of Sound. The blond did not seem nervous in the slightest, while the Sound ninja glared at him with evident hatred. They both made their way down to the arena, where the examiner sounded his whistle to start the match.

“Now let me warn you kid, you might be _his_ favourite, but I’m going to kick your ass,” said Dosu, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Naruto merely grinned at that.

Hinata’s blood seemed to freeze in her veins when she saw the feral expression on his face and the immense power she could see oozing out of him. Her Byakugan was almost blinded momentarily.

*

Sasuke woke up in an infirmary, feeling an intense killing intent encompass his whole body. He rushed to his feet, ripping off the breathing mask of his face. His body didn’t feel so sluggish anymore.

“Well, well, Sasuke-kun, we can’t have you running around yet,” someone said and Sasuke noticed the silver haired nerd from before, holding up a syringe. He had a sinister smirk on his lips, looking as unlike as possible from the scared kid who quit the last stage of the Chuunin exam.

“What do you want?” Sasuke demanded, looking around for something he could use as a potential weapon. He noticed ANBU guards lying motionlessly on the floor, all five of them slaughtered. This guy was no ordinary genin.

“I’d appreciate it if you would come with me quietly,” said the boy, drawing nearer.

“As if,” Sasuke lunged forward and past the guy, grabbing a scalpel from the table nearby. It would do just as well.

The boy did not immediately turn around, instead a throwing knife came at him from his enemy’s blind spot. He dodged it by mere millimetres again, still feeling a bit numb and sore. Something zoomed past him and at the silver haired boy. Kakashi was here.

“You’re Yakushi Kabuto, right? What are you doing here?” he questioned calmly, but still aiming his knife at their opponent without the slightest hesitation.

“Next time you should have at least 10 guards,” the boy mused, turning around slowly.

“Shut up and answer me!” Kakashi demanded, but Kabuto just laughed.

“If you arrest me here, you may never be able to get a single thing out of me. You can torture me with tools or genjutsu, but I won’t ever spill a thing. It will all come out eventually though, so how about you just let me go?” he said with a small smirk.

“You’re just a selfish, cocky brat, aren’t you? You should learn to respect your superiors!” Kakashi attacked, fast as a flash of lighting. Kabuto was prepared though and deflected his attack without too much trouble. A second later, he vanished with a loud pop.

“A shadow clone?!” Kakashi and Sasuke both looked around, but it was too late. The real Yakushi Kabuto was disguised as one of the ANBU he had slaughtered, jumping out of the window.

“He got away,” Kakashi sighed and then turned to Sasuke.

“Did he say anything of importance to you?”

Sasuke frowned a bit. “He was after me, he probably works for Orochimaru.”

“His moves put even the ANBU to shame… if the old snake has someone like this on his side; things might be pretty tough from now on. I will go report to the Hokage. I will take you back to rejoin the exam; you should be relatively safe in there. You are not to wander off on your own, understood?” Kakashi’s tone was final.  

The young Uchiha nodded stiffly at that and allowed himself to be _escorted_ back into the examination hall.

They were greeted by the distinctive smell of blood. One of the sound ninja lay on the ground, both of his arms broken at odd angles. The blond boy from Sand, Naruto, was walking back up the stairs to the audience gallery above. He had a bored expression on his face, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black trousers. He _yawned._

Everyone up above was sporting varying degrees of shock in their expressions.

“What happened?” Sasuke asked Sakura once he took his place with the other teams and Kakashi left to speak with the Hokage. The pink haired girl just stood there, gaping at Naruto, dumbstruck.

So he turned to Sai instead, who looked more concerned than shocked, though it was always hard to tell with that guy.

“The Sound ninja got his ass kicked,” Sai replied with a small smile. “It took less than 2 minutes and they even talked during that time. Something about being a favourite.”

Sasuke frowned, looking at the blond boy who was leaning back against the wall and trying to engage the Hyuuga girl in conversation again. He didn’t look that strong, but if he was really Orochimaru’s favourite… He could be very dangerous. He had no doubt that’s who being a favourite had referred to. The snake bastard definitely looked like the type to encourage his own followers to fight one another for his attention.

“Whose fight did I miss?” he asked, pushing the thoughts aside for now. He needed to figure out the other contestant’s strengths, it would help with the _real_ third part of the exam.

“Sakura and Ino’s, they both knocked each other out,” Sai said with a small note of amusement in his voice. He clearly didn’t think much of either of the girls’ strength. “Then the Hyuuga girl won against a Sound ninja, after which Temari from Sand won against Tenten from Guy’s team. And this one,” he nodded in Naruto’s direction slightly.

“Hm,” Sasuke replied, looking around at the contestants who were still remaining. There weren’t too many left.

“Well then, the next match will be between Hyuuga Neji  and Inuzuka Kiba of Konoha,” the examiner drawled, pulling everyone’s attention back to the centre arena.

Kiba didn’t stand a chance against the genius genin of Konoha. Neji was done in five minutes and left the other boy twitching oddly on the ground and coughing up blood. After them a quick and painless fight between Shikamaru and Choji took place, earning the lazy brunette an easy pass, even though he did appear a bit guilty for fighting his best friend.

Finally. The match he’d been waiting for. Rock Lee of Konoha versus Gaara of the Desert. The thirst for blood was almost tangible in the air or maybe Sasuke was just finding it hard to breathe when his own adrenaline kicked in just from watching them. Lee took off like lightning. He was kicking and punching at a furious pace, likely unmatched by any other genin. He was an expert in taijutsu - that much was apparent. However, his attacks did not seem to be affecting Gaara. He simply stood there, his arms folded and eyes narrowed predatorily as sand poured out of the gourd on his back, hovering in mid air to protect him. Not a single punch got through,

“Is that all you’ve got?” he asked, as though bored. Surprisingly, Lee beamed at that.

“Of course not! I’d be disappointed if you could be defeated with only basic attacks. I was just warming up,” he grinned and then bent over to unclip something from his legs. _Weights._ And not just any weights, there were three rows of them and they looked very heavy. Lee threw them to the ground as though they were nothing and they made a thundering thud upon impact. Gaara raised a hairless brow at that, but did not move to attack.

“Let’s do this!” Lee yelled excitedly, his eyes seemingly on fire with excitement. And then he disappeared.

_Crack. Crack. Crack._

Three kicks landed on Gaara before Sasuke’s Sharingan managed to catch up with the action. Another two hits before Gaara’s sand could catch up and defend him. When the dust around them cleared, Lee was panting slightly, but seemed satisfied.

“That must have hurt!” he said with a grin. Gaara was hunched over slightly, but he didn’t seem to be bleeding. Instead, a small trickle of sand was falling to the ground and when he looked up at Lee, his face and arms were _cracked._ Sand was peeling off his skin only to be replaced by a fresh mould of a slightly different colour, like an odd patch in his skin.

He raised his hand slowly, his fingers gripping an invisible figure. Sand shot towards Lee, enveloping him for a second before he jumped out of it in a spinning flurry of green. Gaara motioned for the sand to follow, but Lee was already right in front of him, kicking him up into air. _The Lotus._ Lee must have done something; because his skin was glowing oddly… he was betting it all on one final move. He unfolded the tape around his arms, which captured Gaara immediately. They were falling, spinning and then they disappeared in a huge explosion of sand.  

“What happened?” Sakura asked worriedly, peering over the railing in a futile attempt to see something.

Sasuke’s eyesight was much better though and he could make out two silhouettes in the dust cloud, one big and round and the other slumped in the ground.

Gaara’s sand had protected him in the last moment, forming a big cushion on the ground, while Lee hit the floor full force. The Sand ninja got to his feet shakily, his breath erratic and shallow, but otherwise unharmed. Lee was not so lucky. He stood up, wobbling dangerously with blood dripping down his face and neck. His eyes were half opened, but…

“Lee!” Guy-sensei jumped down, worry eminent in his voice.

Gaara stirred, narrowing his eyes in a feral scowl.

“Why…?” he rasped, his hand shaking as it motioned for the sand to engulf Guy-sensei and the unconscious, yet standing, Rock Lee.

“Drop it,” said someone flatly and then Naruto appeared, putting one hand on the red head’s shoulder. He was eyeing his teammate coldly, as though giving an unspoken command which was not to be disobeyed.

Gaara _growled_ at Naruto, before turning away with feigned indifference. His shoulders were still stiff and his aura screamed of bloodlust, but he stalked off without a word.

Naruto followed him after giving the dumbfounded Guy-sensei and unapologetic shrug.

They returned to Temari, who seemed to inch away from her brother involuntarily, her eyes as wide and scared. Sasuke watched them intently, watching for any hints of their plan or a real indication of what their skills were. They were _strong._ They were the only team in which all three members got through to the final part of the exam. Even the Konoha genin who trained for an extra year before taking the exam were no match for them.  What was really strange though, was that while Gaara gave off a killing intent strong enough to knock out some people, Naruto had forced him into submission without a problem. What was so special about the blond?

Sasuke frowned, whishing he hadn’t missed Naruto’s fight against the Sound ninja. Now untamed curiosity was eating away at him and he’d be damned if he didn’t find out what was going on with the group from Sand.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
